Mark Charette is the CEO of
Solidus Inc., a commercial
design and construction firm
specializing in the financial
industry, with locations in
Connecticut, Rhode Island,
New York and New Hampshire.
He may be reached at
mcharette@gosolidus.com.

Mark Charette

BY MARK CHARETTE

T

he two biggest doubts holding financial
institutions back today are concerns
about their model and their strategy. Not
knowing whether the model or strategy is correct
can render technology useless, branch staff
superfluous and merchandising a huge waste of
time and money. So what is the right model and
strategy?
A branch model goes deeper than the
relative positions of retail zones and equipment.
Deciding how model and strategy work together
may resemble a chicken-and-egg problem, but
logically, the model must be determined by your
strategy and its objectives.

Strategy Drives Model,
Technology Enables Strategy
The successful branch model (driven by
strategy) includes staffing that requires its own
18 BANKING NEW ENGLAND

special training. Banking technology should
enable strategy, not the other way around
(strategy shouldn’t enable technology). Financial
institutions should mindfully build their
platforms – deliberate layers of staff, technology
and retail communications – so the branch
model completely supports strategy:
1. If growing wallet share is the strategic
goal (more products per customer/family),
dialogue banking is the model to support this.
The dialogue model requires in-branch tellers
using a new generation of highly efficient cash
processing equipment.
2. If staff productivity or pure efficiency is
the goal, the branch automation model is the
best option. This model uses machines that
enable customer transactions with minimum
assistance from staff.
The cost of banking equipment can be